JUNE – SPROCKET
You know what it’s like to breathe……to cough…..Well, try doing it through a straw for a minute or so. Now you know what this cute little fella had to go through only days after arriving here in Stanthorpe. Sproket was a mere 10 weeks old when his owner noticed him coughing and he seemed to get worse through the night. By morning he was heaps worse. So it was an emergency trip here. After an exam and xrays, the diagnosis was aspiration pneumonia due to a hypoplastic trachea. This meant Sprocket had accidentally breathed down food/vomit/saliva to his lungs to cause pneumonia and it was due to a congenital (born with it) underdeveloped trachea or airway. His trachea was more narrow than a straw and it should have been at least 3-4 times the diameter it was.
Poor Sprocket had nowhere near enough oxygen circulating in his blood and was in danger of dying. So he had to have nasal oxygen in both of his nostrils, a drip, heaps of medications to help him get rid of the infection and 3-4 times a day we had to nebulise him to help break up the mucous. The only way up for all the mucous was through his narrow trachea by coughing which was such a difficult thing for him and when he was coughing a lot his oxygen was very low. Sprocket’s life hung in the balance. It took so much more effort for him to breathe, cough and get rid of his pneumonia. Sprocket was not eating very much at all as the effort would reduce his oxygen levels also. He had to
After 3 long days, Sprocket finally turned the corner and started to improve. It was slow improvement to start with – his oxygen levels were creeping up and he was eating so much better. Then he started to get cheeky and we really saw his personality which was a cheeky, fun, active and lovable puppy. After a couple of more days, Sprocket’s parents and family were finally able to take him home. They were so happy especially as he had spent more of his time here than he had at his new home.
Sprocket’s airway is a little larger than it first was after all his medication and he continues to improve at home. We miss him now as he was here for so long and such an intensive patient. We all hope his airway grows much faster than he does so that in the future there is much less risk of this happening again.